Catriona MacLeod is a lecturer in French Studies and Politics at the University of London Institute in Paris (ULIP). Her research interests concern women in French-language graphic novels (bandes dessinées) and narratives of trauma and migration in bandes dessinées and caricatures.

'[Invisible Presence] is a fundamental book for comics scholars, whether or not their research is focused on gender studies. Catriona MacLeod’s detailed analysis of BD, and its male and female authors, is a very valuable source of information especially the vast and varied descriptive level of characters, vignettes, plots and actions. [...] I have to highlight the importance of the vindicating aspect of this volume, namely highlighting the void regarding female characters and female authors that persists in encyclopedic and historiographical volumes on BD; the difficulty of creating genealogy about 20th-century pioneering female authors, and the gaps in the creation of female characters other than by straight white women.'

• Introduction – Women ProblemsSECTION 1: PRIMARY WOMEN CHARACTERSChapter 1 – Bécassine to Barbarella…But What Came in Between? An Introductory History of Female Primary Characters in the Francophone Bande DessinéeChapter 2 – Bécassine: The First Lady of Bande Dessinée?Chapter 3 – Barbarella: Study of a Sex-SymbolChapter 4 – Solving the Mystery of Adèle Blanc-SecSECTION 2: SECONDARY WOMEN CHARACTERSPreface: A Brief Consideration of the MinorChapter 5 – Beyond Bonemine: An Introductory History of Female Secondary Characters in the Francophone Bande DessinéeChapter 6 – A Study of Stereotypes: The Secondary Female Characters of AstérixChapter 7 – Secondary Women in Urban Realism: La Vie de ma mèreChapter 8 – Black Secondary Women in the Works of Warnauts and Raives: The Eroticization of DifferenceChapter 9 – Secondary Women in the BD New Wave: The Female Figures of Le Combat ordinaireSECTION 3: WOMEN CHARACTERS BY WOMEN CREATORSChapter 10 – The Women that Women Draw: An Introductory History of Female Characters Drawn by Women Artists in the Francophone Bande DessinéeChapter 11 – The Rise and Fall of Ah! Nana: France’s first and only all-female illustréChapter 12 – Murdering the Male Gaze: Chantal Montellier’s Odile et les crocodilesChapter 13 – Everyday extremes: Aurélia Aurita’s Fraise et chocolatConclusion – Problem Solved?FiguresBibliography

Catriona MacLeod is a lecturer in French Studies and Politics at the University of London Institute in Paris (ULIP). Her research interests concern women in French-language graphic novels (bandes dessinées) and narratives of trauma and migration in bandes dessinées and caricatures.

'[Invisible Presence] is a fundamental book for comics scholars, whether or not their research is focused on gender studies. Catriona MacLeod’s detailed analysis of BD, and its male and female authors, is a very valuable source of information especially the vast and varied descriptive level of characters, vignettes, plots and actions. [...] I have to highlight the importance of the vindicating aspect of this volume, namely highlighting the void regarding female characters and female authors that persists in encyclopedic and historiographical volumes on BD; the difficulty of creating genealogy about 20th-century pioneering female authors, and the gaps in the creation of female characters other than by straight white women.'

• Introduction – Women ProblemsSECTION 1: PRIMARY WOMEN CHARACTERSChapter 1 – Bécassine to Barbarella…But What Came in Between? An Introductory History of Female Primary Characters in the Francophone Bande DessinéeChapter 2 – Bécassine: The First Lady of Bande Dessinée?Chapter 3 – Barbarella: Study of a Sex-SymbolChapter 4 – Solving the Mystery of Adèle Blanc-SecSECTION 2: SECONDARY WOMEN CHARACTERSPreface: A Brief Consideration of the MinorChapter 5 – Beyond Bonemine: An Introductory History of Female Secondary Characters in the Francophone Bande DessinéeChapter 6 – A Study of Stereotypes: The Secondary Female Characters of AstérixChapter 7 – Secondary Women in Urban Realism: La Vie de ma mèreChapter 8 – Black Secondary Women in the Works of Warnauts and Raives: The Eroticization of DifferenceChapter 9 – Secondary Women in the BD New Wave: The Female Figures of Le Combat ordinaireSECTION 3: WOMEN CHARACTERS BY WOMEN CREATORSChapter 10 – The Women that Women Draw: An Introductory History of Female Characters Drawn by Women Artists in the Francophone Bande DessinéeChapter 11 – The Rise and Fall of Ah! Nana: France’s first and only all-female illustréChapter 12 – Murdering the Male Gaze: Chantal Montellier’s Odile et les crocodilesChapter 13 – Everyday extremes: Aurélia Aurita’s Fraise et chocolatConclusion – Problem Solved?FiguresBibliography

Catriona MacLeod is a lecturer in French Studies and Politics at the University of London Institute in Paris (ULIP). Her research interests concern women in French-language graphic novels (bandes dessinées) and narratives of trauma and migration in bandes dessinées and caricatures.

'[Invisible Presence] is a fundamental book for comics scholars, whether or not their research is focused on gender studies. Catriona MacLeod’s detailed analysis of BD, and its male and female authors, is a very valuable source of information especially the vast and varied descriptive level of characters, vignettes, plots and actions. [...] I have to highlight the importance of the vindicating aspect of this volume, namely highlighting the void regarding female characters and female authors that persists in encyclopedic and historiographical volumes on BD; the difficulty of creating genealogy about 20th-century pioneering female authors, and the gaps in the creation of female characters other than by straight white women.'

• Introduction – Women ProblemsSECTION 1: PRIMARY WOMEN CHARACTERSChapter 1 – Bécassine to Barbarella…But What Came in Between? An Introductory History of Female Primary Characters in the Francophone Bande DessinéeChapter 2 – Bécassine: The First Lady of Bande Dessinée?Chapter 3 – Barbarella: Study of a Sex-SymbolChapter 4 – Solving the Mystery of Adèle Blanc-SecSECTION 2: SECONDARY WOMEN CHARACTERSPreface: A Brief Consideration of the MinorChapter 5 – Beyond Bonemine: An Introductory History of Female Secondary Characters in the Francophone Bande DessinéeChapter 6 – A Study of Stereotypes: The Secondary Female Characters of AstérixChapter 7 – Secondary Women in Urban Realism: La Vie de ma mèreChapter 8 – Black Secondary Women in the Works of Warnauts and Raives: The Eroticization of DifferenceChapter 9 – Secondary Women in the BD New Wave: The Female Figures of Le Combat ordinaireSECTION 3: WOMEN CHARACTERS BY WOMEN CREATORSChapter 10 – The Women that Women Draw: An Introductory History of Female Characters Drawn by Women Artists in the Francophone Bande DessinéeChapter 11 – The Rise and Fall of Ah! Nana: France’s first and only all-female illustréChapter 12 – Murdering the Male Gaze: Chantal Montellier’s Odile et les crocodilesChapter 13 – Everyday extremes: Aurélia Aurita’s Fraise et chocolatConclusion – Problem Solved?FiguresBibliography